Overview

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Active travel data across Scotland from Jun 2017 to Dec 2022.

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Cyclists – Total Count by Month & Year

Pedestrians – Total Count by Month & Year

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Counter Data Summaries

Cycling Scotland’s National Monitoring Framework (NMF) Counters

Total count per year
traffic mode 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 total
National Monitoring Framework (CS) bicycle 118,044 322,595 1,063,155 2,058,197 1,970,932 1,838,437 7,371,360
National Monitoring Framework (CS) pedestrian 321,198 910,552 3,814,669 7,936,812 10,500,832 8,768,130 32,252,193
Average daily count across counters
traffic mode 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
National Monitoring Framework (CS) bicycle 48 44 64 102 96 93
National Monitoring Framework (CS) pedestrian 221 183 300 516 685 569
Average daily count, overall
traffic mode 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
National Monitoring Framework (CS) bicycle 25 37 121 234 225 210
National Monitoring Framework (CS) pedestrian 68 104 435 904 1199 1001
Average hourly count
traffic mode 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
National Monitoring Framework (CS) bicycle 0.5 0.5 0.6 1 1 0.9
National Monitoring Framework (CS) pedestrian 2.3 1.9 3 5.1 6.8 5.7

 
Focusing on the NMF counters, at end Dec 2022 approximately 7.4M bikes and 32.3M pedestrians had been recorded going past all counters. Average count per day dropped in 2018 for both types of counters before starting to rise again. Looking at counts overall, cycling peaked in May 2020, two months after the first COVID-19 lockdown was imposed, then continued to drop after plateauing over the summer. Despite further restrictions in 2021 cycling counts dropped overall, even with higher counts than seen over the summer months in 2020. Counts then started to drop after the highest peak to date, including also non-NMF counters, in Aug (2021) to the lowest counts recorded for 2021 in Dec, even with an increase in counters across the country.
Walking, overall, continued to rise in 2021. But even this started to decrease in April, and by June had dropped below the same month in 2020. However, both cycling and walking started to rise again in Jul 2021, both over the 2020 figures, but then started to fall again in Aug. Walking rose in Sep before starting to fall again in Oct, and as for cycling, to its lowest count in 2021 in Dec.
Both walking and cycling dropped in 2022, compared to 2021

 

The data now also includes council-managed counters, Sustrans counters on the Natioanal Cycle NETWORK (NCN) and along key points on trunk roads. Five counters along the John Muir Way, located around the west, central belt are also included in the data reported. It should be noted that the much larger number of counters in the two largest cities, Glasgow and the particularly dense network in Edinburgh, skew the data especially when looking at totals. We therefore compare data across location and time using predominantly average and/or median counts (across locations and/or counters).

 

Council Counters & the John Muir Way

Total count per year
traffic mode 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 total
City of Edinburgh Council bicycle 10,264,625 10,932,455 12,153,109 11,402,390 4,460,806 49,213,385
East Dunbartonshire Council bicycle 46,603 90,008 189,999 131,065 99,166 556,841
Glasgow City Council bicycle 3,032,075 3,803,975 2,448,636 4,168,976 7,021,531 20,475,193
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar bicycle
47,529 37,142 48,728 59,665 193,064
Stirling Council bicycle
639,243 743,521 1,002,337 907,553 3,292,654
Sustrans bicycle
7,965 343,597 1,129,164 1,147,070 2,627,796
John Muir Way bicycle
33,383 93,623 71,684 198,690
Aberdeen City Council bicycle
66,068 503,189 569,257
Aberdeenshire Council bicycle
50,200 298,490 348,690
North Ayrshire Council bicycle
57,496 275,710 333,206
Perth & Kinross Council bicycle
155,540 354,203 509,743
South Lanarkshire Council bicycle
76,438 493,478 569,916
The Highland Council bicycle
370,741 1,413,763 1,784,504
North East Trunk Roads bicycle
29,535 29,535
North West Trunk Roads bicycle
96,365 96,365
South East Trunk Roads bicycle
148,892 148,892
South West Trunk Roads bicycle
68,374 68,374
Average daily count across counters
traffic mode 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
City of Edinburgh Council bicycle 881 751 665 677 401
East Dunbartonshire Council bicycle 60 25 52 36 27
Glasgow City Council bicycle 306 266 164 189 282
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar bicycle
16 13 19 24
Stirling Council bicycle
86 90 114 102
Sustrans bicycle
22 112 156 109
John Muir Way bicycle
48 51 40
Aberdeen City Council bicycle
30 52
Aberdeenshire Council bicycle
15 23
North Ayrshire Council bicycle
20 26
Perth & Kinross Council bicycle
22 24
South Lanarkshire Council bicycle
21 32
The Highland Council bicycle
145 143
North East Trunk Roads bicycle
37
North West Trunk Roads bicycle
44
South East Trunk Roads bicycle
83
South West Trunk Roads bicycle
77
Average daily count, overall
traffic mode 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
City of Edinburgh Council bicycle 1172 1251 1384 1302 509
East Dunbartonshire Council bicycle 7 10 22 15 11
Glasgow City Council bicycle 346 454 279 479 802
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar bicycle
5 4 6 7
Stirling Council bicycle
73 85 114 104
Sustrans bicycle
1 39 129 131
John Muir Way bicycle
10 11 8
Aberdeen City Council bicycle
30 57
Aberdeenshire Council bicycle
23 34
North Ayrshire Council bicycle
26 31
Perth & Kinross Council bicycle
43 47
South Lanarkshire Council bicycle
35 56
The Highland Council bicycle
168 161
North East Trunk Roads bicycle
6
North West Trunk Roads bicycle
31
South East Trunk Roads bicycle
31
South West Trunk Roads bicycle
14
Average hourly count
traffic mode 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
City of Edinburgh Council bicycle 36.7 31.3 27.7 28.2 16.5
East Dunbartonshire Council bicycle 2.5 1 2.2 1.5 1
Glasgow City Council bicycle 12.8 11.1 6.8 7.8 11.6
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar bicycle
0.4 0.3 0.5 1
Stirling Council bicycle
3.6 3.7 4.8 4.2
Sustrans bicycle
0.9 4.7 6.5 4.6
John Muir Way bicycle
2 2.1 1.7
Aberdeen City Council bicycle
1.2 2
Aberdeenshire Council bicycle
0.6 1
North Ayrshire Council bicycle
0.8 1.1
Perth & Kinross Council bicycle
0.9 0.8
South Lanarkshire Council bicycle
0.9 1.3
The Highland Council bicycle
6 6
North East Trunk Roads bicycle
1.5
North West Trunk Roads bicycle
1.8
South East Trunk Roads bicycle
3.4
South West Trunk Roads bicycle
3.2

Counter Locations

Counters ...